I started refusing to do IQ tests at primary school and I've never regretted it.
High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders
131–140 of 297 posts
Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders
#132(2017)
Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders
#133My opinion is that ultimately IQ is only a measure of performance on IQ tests. There is a positive correlation between IQ and performance in some tasks, but calling someone with a high IQ "smart" or "more intelligent" is a far reach in my experience, which is having an IQ over 179 (I did the test stoned and hungover in order to not score too highly) and being an idiot.
Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders
#134I some times wonder if the IQ of the people that conducts these studies is below average.
30 point of IQ of difference is with the average, an IQ of 70 or less is the IQ of a clinically retarded person. So, if you have 132 IQ, the average person is literally retarded compared to you. If you live in a world surrounded by retards you are going to be depressed and had all sorts of mental issues and a hard time to adapt, because everything is made to accommodate them, all of general society is designed for retards from your perspective.
Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders
#135> It’s also possible that people who join Mensa differ from other people in ways other than just IQ. For example, people preoccupied with intellectual pursuits may spend less time than the average person on physical exercise and social interaction, both of which have been shown to have broad benefits for psychological and physical health. Is Mensa really an "intellectual pursuit"? I'm not sure exactly what Mensa does…
It'd be funny if the organization behind Mensa decided to re-test everybody on account of the COVID pandemic to ensure that their high standards are maintained and that members who drop below the required IQ for entry get culled accordingly. And of course ditto for those reaching a certain age, we would not want any accidental cases of Alzheimers posing as high IQ individuals now, would we?
You become Mensa member for life, ie. if you have brain injury and your IQ drops to 80, you're still Mensan.
Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders
#136> Although the reasons are not fully understood, they also tend to live longer, healthier lives, and are less likely to experience negative life events such as bankruptcy. I’ll tell you why. Smart people listen to experts. Dumb people listen to other dumb people based on feeling. Case in point, the current pandemic. High-IQ people will get vaccinated. The people who won’t because of various conspiracy theories and mi…
I am not getting vaccinated, because I've analyzed that my odds of dying of Covid-19 at my age and health are less than my odds of dying in a car wreck. And I'm comfortable with that risk as opposed to the unknown long-term risks of RNA therapy.
What about long Covid?
Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's interesting. I joined and was immediately turned off by the group. The difference with joining a chess club is you get to play chess. So let's turn your proposal around: What do you get to do in a High IQ club that is different from any random collection of people? Besides talk about how you are in MENSA?
I don't really care one way or the other, but my impression is the group offers a setting for like-minded (read 'higher-IQ') individuals to come talk about anything and not just the thing they are there for.
> like-minded (read 'higher-IQ') individuals
But what topic are they of like mind about? "High IQ" individuals might be left-wing or right-wing, religious or secular, capitalist or communist, etc. The only theme likely to be in common among all Mensa members is a pride in their IQ.
Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders
#138> Although the reasons are not fully understood, they also tend to live longer, healthier lives, and are less likely to experience negative life events such as bankruptcy. I’ll tell you why. Smart people listen to experts. Dumb people listen to other dumb people based on feeling. Case in point, the current pandemic. High-IQ people will get vaccinated. The people who won’t because of various conspiracy theories and mi…
Conspiracy thinking doesn't seem to correlate with IQ. I suspect it is an emotional issue.
Conspiracy thinking is correlated with a lack of logic and critical thinking, which are correlated with high IQ.
Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders
#139> It’s also possible that people who join Mensa differ from other people in ways other than just IQ. For example, people preoccupied with intellectual pursuits may spend less time than the average person on physical exercise and social interaction, both of which have been shown to have broad benefits for psychological and physical health. Is Mensa really an "intellectual pursuit"? I'm not sure exactly what Mensa does…
Update: I'm reading people with (more) negative experiences. I guess YMMV :) Still, I wouldn't draw absolute conclusions based on this. I was a Mensa associate, and participated to evening meetings in two countries (evening meetings are only part of the activities). You're assuming, with "people insecure enough to join an IQ-restricted club", that associates sit on a high horse due to their IQ. It was quite the oppos…
> [...] it's amusing to think that a significant part of a "high IQ" club is games :)
That is exactly what I expected.
> [...] In my personal view, joining the club because of (relatively) high IQ was no different than joining, say, a chess club
Because in a certain sense, they attract the same people? Both seem a little bit competitive: One defines their members by IQ and the other by ELO.
Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. It's a weird bunch (not in a bad way!). I went to their meetings a couple times by invitation, and it never really "clicked" - for many of their members, their MENSA membership and related activities are a big part of their identity and their life, and I wasn't able to connect. I heard the same thing from a couple of friends who also met their entrance criteria, and there's certainly a lot of selection bias. Whi…
Where are all of the satisfied Mensa members? Every time Mensa gets brought up a whole swarm of dissatisfied former members shows up to explain how it's not worth attending, and yet the organization persists. What's the other side of the story?
So, first, Mensa groups vary considerably across countries (US has many people that seek some activity after retirement; in Hong Kong some seem to be attracted by the mensa email they can put on their CV; in Germany it seems a fairly mixed bunch, many of which are bored in their parochial hometown).
But I thought membership was well worth it. Discussions about random arcane topics, meetings and conferences, contacts when traveling, dating, a fairly open and tolerant social circle, etc.